Arch-support.



niuTnn STATES PATENT onirica lZio all whom it may' concern port the foot in its various positions, such Be it known that I, PEREZ B. HOWARD, a citizen of the United States, residing at Newtonville, county of Middlesex, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Arch- Supports, of which the following is a specication.

This invention relates to arch supporters and the like for supporting broken arches or reventing the breaking down of weakeneld archesv of tlie foot. The usiial arch supporter so called is a metallic plate made in eneral form to t the curvature of the uncgler'side of the foot. Such plates are rigid and s tiif and either do not permit flexion of the foot or if permitted, such movements are not followed and therefore offer no possibilities of development of the muscles which assist in maintaining the conformation of the normal arch. These devices are furthermore uncomfortable on account of stiffness and are disagreeable to the wearer.' -It has also been attempted to introduce a form other than a rigid plate, as for example in such devices as have employed ball cushion pads. These features have also 'been sometimes combined as where a rigid plate has been employed in conjunctionwith. asmall cushion to relieve the oppressive nature-of the rigidity. All such devices 'however :are open to the objection that they donotjsup standing and walking. Thosethat assistlth arches of the foot in a standing position ar a mist for the diiferent attitudes assumedy by the arches during the flexion of the foot in its different movements. the foot are plural, :here beinga longitudi-v nal arch and also a transverse arch. This makes of the curvature of the underside of the foot a very complex surface. In lorder to properly support this complex arch structure it is necessary that the support be self' adjusting as to load. Thatis the support must at all times conform to the flexion of the foot and meet the distribution of the weight. This means that the support must be of such a nature as tofallow for not only the up and down movement of the muscles and joints, sometimes calledthe hinge. mo# tion of the foot, but allow `for theside mo tion and twisting which occurs in walking. Marmer when at rmi-tha@ .a-

Speclcation of Iiettens latent.

V`ing.complete uniform pressure upon the d if- The arches ofA Paare a. nowaan'or nnwroirvrnnzi,l messacausnms;

CGPY Anon-surnom..

tive pressure should be so confined as to exert a lifting effect upward in its directive tendency to support the arch in its correct normal position. The pressure in` Walking or lifting the feet must be variable, Athat is it must be capable of shifting to the required place where `it will exert its most eiective Patented Mar. 30, 1915.

Application led January 30, 19.14. Serial No. 815,331.

freedom of movement and ,exercise allowed by the device, and finally the support should be something more than a support alone, it should exert a remedial ei'ect which allows the muscles and tendons of the foot to gradually regain Atheir proper supportive'power so that the device canin time bediscarded.

To the end therefore of providing an instep support which will possess all these features, I'have devised my present invention, which in a usual embodiment consists of an elastic fluid 4container 4filled either with a liquid or a gas. The container is of substantially the area spanned by the foot arches but extends slightly under the bases of the arches;v iIt is preferably flattened on its lower face to it the sole of the shoe while its upper surface conforms substantially -to the surface area of thearch-structure. The contained iiuidis `freely displaceable in all directions within said container thus exertferent parts of the foot under the arch area.

VLocal vacuum is prevented by a flexible longitudinal .rib formed on the under wall of .the Vcontainer and displaceable Alaterally by V.the downwardly directed Ifoot pressure.v

f ,The construction and principle of my in-v vention'willbe more fully disclosed in the specic'ation which follows.

In the drawings which fform a part of that specification IshQave shown' as an illustrative embodiment a support ywhich has not only proven to be highly eiiicacious in many cases but is in itself a Iform capable of convenient manufacture on an extended scale. The .very

nature of the device makes it somewhat diffrcult of adequate illustration and it-.has therefore been necessary to treat the invention more or less diagrarnmatically .in the draw- Y Throughout specification' andl drawings sure. Fig. 6 is a perspective view'of the support removed, and Fig. 7 is a view particularly illustrating the liexible longitudinal rib which prevents local vacuum in the container. Referringv iirst'to Figs. 5, 6 and 7 of the drawings and particularly to Fig. 55 I have indicated atflA the instep portion of a. shoe yand at 2 the insole between which and the instep of the foot (indicated by.dotted lines) is confined my novel form of instep support. The fsupport is composed of a container or ,envelop and two layers of protective material 4 laid one on each side thereof and united thereto in any suitable manner as by a coating of adhesive. The envelop ,3 is preferably made'of rubber and substantially follows thecomplex sole surface ofA the foot as presented when the foot is in normal placement. The envelop therefore consists of 'a continuous integral communicatingr midl dle arch portion 5 and vanterior arch areas 6..

The middle portion 5 supports the longitudinal arch of the plural arch structure of the foot and the anterior portion 6 thetransverse arch of the foot. At oneside the en-4 velop has a raised portion 7 conforming to the curved line of the middle arch and extending rlengthwise of theenvelop.' From this portion the envelop 'slopes down and terminates in tapered edge portions 8 adapted to underlie and receive and transmit pressures from any section of arch base ceinpression tovany section of arch relief. Beneath the raised portion 7 the .under wall of the envelop is formed with an integral fieriv lteferriugnow to Figs. l and 4. In. these `figures l hare`eudeavored to show by the-use of diagrams the action of the support under vari iug'degrees of foot llexiou. These \'iews` are particularly designed to illustrate the ble rib -9 .extending longitudinally of the,v containeran'd'serving to prevent local vacuv-J. um therein. The protective la'yers 4. formed preferably of pliable leather. They .are usually glued to the container one-on each side andv to each other at their overlape ping edges. The envelop 'is filled with a iluid capable of being freely displaced therein ,in all directions so as to maintain a cornplete uniform pressure upon the dilleiefnt parts of the complex sole surface, while not interfering with the essential freedom of :ic- A lines X-.XiY-Y and Z--Z in -Fig. 1. The

tion ofthe foot muscles.

automatic adjustment for load. For th purpose of illustration I have selected three 4 l' of the numerous positions of foot l'exions and plotted out their variations under thediil'erent applications of compressive force. These positions are indicated inFig. 1 and are first, the position of support when the i foot is at rest (indicated by the lbroken line N-N) 'second the position of support when i foot iexion is normal asin standing,I (indicated by the dot and dash lines S,S) and third the position of support when foot iiexion is greatest as when the heelisraised ln Figs. 2, 3 and 4 this arbitrary Adesignation is carried out in detail for each vsupport position illustrated in Fig. 1. The

i represent i nh'emdjusti indicated lines in all the diagra load adjustment. They indicate t y ments of the .foot arches and show how the Huid in the envelop automatically accommof dates itself to variationsin'the line of appli- -cation and relativel distribution of the'effective load, vl. e., the weight ofthe person carried by the footn question. The iirst of these Apositions indicatedin F ig. l'by the.

broken line N-N is approximately that of the supporting arch bases when the foot is at rest arid uniiexed.l 1n this position the ef.- fective pressure ofthe contained fluid has a .considerable lateral distribution and serves "to lightly supportthegeneral arch system abovee'xplain'ed indicates the line of supr port for the arches under normal (unloaded) position of the foot. Theindicated arch uitvatuijev along the line X-X-is shown by the broken line A-B, thatof Y-Y bythe broken line Alv 1 and-that of Z-Z by the aov broken line A2- 2., The second of these positions indicated in Fig. ll by the' dot and dash line S-S is4 that of the support when thefoot iiexionis normal as in standing. In this 'position the 'line of vapplication of the. compressive lf'orce 'has `heen changed fromthfat indicated'inlfFig. 2 and it now becomes necessaryjfor the support to utomatically adjust itselfV to this new line of application. This the support does by automati-` cally 'shifting the 'effective supporting pressure'to the place where it is most required.

'lhe dot'V and dash line in Fig. 3' vrepresents -tlie arch curvatures spanning the portions of the area indicated by the dot and dash 'line'Sf-S in Fig. l along the fore and aft arci-i1 curvature foitlieliiie S-S taken across is indicated in Fig. 3 by the dot fand dash line C-D, Vthat" of the line X4'fX"(l"ig.-1) b v`Gl-'D1 and that of Z-Z by The third these positions, in-

incassa i dicated by the dotted line W-W Fig. 1 represents the line ofthe 'supporting arch bases when the foot exion is greatestyas in start- 'ing to walk. It is at this time that the greatest freedom of action for the foot muscles is demanded `and it is in this respect that the usual types of supportsfail since their vtendency is to conine thefcot in one place. In Walking there is annp and downmovement of all the muscles: of the foot after the manner of a'hinge. `In. addition there is a side motionand a twisting eect produced by the rotative play in turning in on the ball of the foot. These movements naturally produce a ve complex surface area to be supported an it is 1n this position more than in any other that the envelop must accomodate itself to the varying lines of 'force applied so as to maintain complete uniform pressure upon. all parts of the sole under the arch area. InAFig. t thedotted curves E-F, :E1- 1 and EL- 2 represent the arch curvature along the lines X-X,

Y-Y and Z--Z respectively in Fig. l orthe supporting areas bordering upon the dotted line WfW, Fig. l. The actual curvature is of course too complex to illustrateI j otherwise than diagrammatically by those transmitted pressure. Y

Various modifications in' the form and arrangement of my device lmay obviously he resortedto within the of the appended claims.`

What therefore claim and desire to Vsecure by VLetters, Patent is 'f- 1. A exible arch support comprising apflexible uid filled cushion having an upper 'wall shaped to conform to the normal arch of the human foot, and hase and side walls connected to said upper vwall and forming therewith a closed chamber and serving to'` upper face in its proper position- 1n hold the the shoe. 2. A flexible arch support comprisinga:

closed flexible container shaped to it the normal contour of the foot arch, and a iiuid i in said container freely movable therein, to

aord selective support of thearch members.

3. A flexible arch support comprising a exible envelop, theupper surfaceof said envelop being shaped to conform to the normal arch of the human foot, a duid container in said envelop, and means tendn to maintain the placement. .l

` 4. A exible arch support 4'comprising a support against lateral disco i side wall, said side wall being provided with Y n gage and support the arch of the human foot, said-yielding Wall being connected at abase wall, a yielding wall adapted to eI- l one ofits edges te the outer edge or' 'said base Wall, and at anotheredge to said side Wall, and forming a closed chamberunder said yielding wall and a duid contained in said chamber.

In testimony whereof I afix my signature i' in presence of two Witnesses. A

PEREZ B. HOWARD. Witnesses:

MARION C. Hoses, VICTORIA4 LOWDEN. 

